Option Three

by Mirta

Chapter 2 - Twilight Sparkle

Twilight Sparkle and a guard were standing on a small landing in front of the door to the topmost room in one of the tallest tower in the castle. Holding a bowl of fruit with her magic, she was mentally preparing herself for the task ahead. All she had to do was to open the door to the alien's room and wait for the guard to deliver the bowl while observing the both of them in case something unexpected happened.

The guard next to her, Silver Spear, had volunteered for the task. That did not mean it was something he was looking forward to doing. His movements were twitchy, his breathing was a touch louder than usual and she could smell that he was sweating despite the castle's temperature being the same magically-maintained constant as ever.

Regardless of it all, the gray unicorn had a determined look in his eyes as he took the bowl of fruit from her magical grasp and surrounded it with his own aura to keep it afloat. Twilight had a knot in her stomach despite being certain that the alien held no magic of his own. No matter how strong he may be, she could restrain him should he do something unexpected. Of course, what she knew was only based on her own observations.

And everypony made mistakes.

“So. If you feel like he does something that threatens anypony's safety, just do as we practiced and light up your horn and I'll take care of it.”

Her voice was not quite as steady as she would have liked, but Silver Spear glanced at her and nodded nevertheless.

“Okay then, here goes nothing.”

The door opened silently, swinging inwards as she gave it a solid push with her hoof. She heard Silver swallow just as the room and its sole resident were revealed. The alien was near the window, sitting cross-legged in front of it, looking at the city below. Silver hadn't had time to even take a single step forward when the alien's head jerked, turning to face the door. They both froze in place, staring at each other.

Time stopped.

Ta-Thump.

The only sound was the beating of her own heart.

Ta-Thump.

Nothing moved.

Ta-Thump.

Nothing made a sound.

Ta-Thump.

The alien's eyes were not fixed on her, yet some long-forgotten instinct was screaming that she should flee.

Ta-... Clop.

Silver Spear's hoof hit the floor.

He took the first step into the room, his eyes still fixed on the alien's. Twilight suddenly felt extremely aware of everything that was happening. Silver was about to take another step, the alien was still frozen in place, a bird flew past the window, she were waiting at the door like planned and the sound of hoofsteps could be heard from somewhere below.

The alien's reaction was so fast Twilight could barely follow. He placed his palms on the ground and twisted his body so his heels were against the wall with the balls of his feet on the floor. His eyes narrowed as he set them on the doorway. Twilight felt her own eyes go wide at the speed of his moves. She immediately spread her forehooves wider and lowered her head in preparation, her horn pointed at the bipedal creature. She was suddenly afraid. The alien's massive rear legs were coiled like springs and he had support from both the floor and the wall behind him.

But nothing happened. She watched the alien's face contort as the various muscles below the skin tensed and caused some of the features to move ever so slightly, producing an expression she could not read. Silver, having frozen in place as the alien had suddenly moved, took another step into the room. The alien opened his mouth and said something that Twilight couldn't understand and leaned on his hand, planting his behind on the floor again. The guard glanced back at her as the alien was doing this, his mouth slightly agape.

“I don't think he's going to do anything.”

He nodded at her and took another step. The alien was saying something incomprehensible and gesturing with his hands, but was ignored by both of the ponies. The ordeal was over in a few more seconds. Silver took a few more steps into the room before placing the bowl of fruit onto a chest of drawers and quickly retreated out of the room.

Twilight felt like she somehow understood the alien as she closed the door. The way he had his hand stretched out towards her, his fingers spread wide, and the single word he rapidly repeated as the door was closing had made him seem desperate. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Was that what he had said?

She did not know.

”Come in.”

Her mentor's voice responded to her knock on the door.

”So, how did he react?”

Princess Celestia did not even look at who came in before asking. She was on her balcony and was looking down at Canterlot, both her and the city illuminated by the afternoon sun. Twilight, coming from the shaded corridors, had to squint her eyes to look at her, so brilliant was her white coat.

“I'm not sure. At first, it seemed like he would pounce at me. I was prepared to blast him with a spell but then... Then he just sat down and started talking.”

Celestia turned to face Twilight, a part of her regalia mirroring the sun into her eyes for a split-second as she did so. She reflexively closed her eyes and looked away.

”Oh? And what do you think made him do that?”

The sound of horseshoes hitting carpeted stone told Twilight that Celestia had come into the room with her, back from the balcony. Opening her eyes, she looked at her mentor again and saw a warm smile on her face.

“If he had come at me as soon as he could have, he'd have been on me before I would have had a chance to react so... I think he chose to try and talk before doing anything else. When I was closing the door, he was repeating this one word-”

Twilight attempted to replicate the sound he'd made.

“-that I feel like means 'wait' but I just don't know.”

Princess Celestia looked at Twilight quietly for a moment, the smile still on her face. Yet something about her eyes had changed when she heard the replication of the word.

”Looks like you have a lot of work ahead of you if you want to learn to understand him.”

She gave Twilight a look that Twilight knew all too well. It was the one she gave before giving her a task that'd teach something she could explain in a few minutes but chose to have her figure out yourself.

”I believe your friend Sunburst would know how to get started.”